A COVENANT has been drawn up by Coventry City Council in an attempt to satisfy angry protesters demanding full public access to Charterhouse Fields.

Residents and a city councillor have warned it could hand control of access over to neighbouring Blue Coat School, which wants the fields as part of its bid for academy status.

The deal would see the council hand over 60 per cent of the treasured green space off London Road on a 125-year lease.

The covenant was published on the city council website after Save Our Fields campaigners forced a U-turn on the original decision to hand over the land.

The new lease enshrines public rights of access along footpaths surrounding the fields.

But for the fields themselves it adds: “access may be restricted during times when the land is being used by the tenant for teaching and physical education and also during periods of maintenance.”

It continues: “The tenant shall adopt any reasonable measures as agreed between the council, the tenant and representatives of the local community to improve future management and shared use, which may include motorcycle barriers.”

The lease will go before education portfolio holder, Councillor Lynette Kelly, for approval at a meeting on June 29. It is the latest twist in a decades-long dispute and follows a meeting between council officers and members of Charterhouse Residents Group on June 8.

Residents will meet tonight to decide whether to officially accept the lease – or to fight it – at Charterhouse Club in David Road, Stoke, at 7pm.

Dave Griffiths, chairman of the residents group, said: “The council has got a lot further to go to satisfy us about our rights of access.

“The council is mentioning things like the school ‘restricting access’ and that’s what we will not accept. That is suggesting they have ownership of the land and this was all supposed to be about dual use.”

Mr Griffiths said council officers refused to recognise Charterhouse Residents Group in the lease as it was not a “legally recognised body”.